Top Ten Ways to Have Fun While Working at The Barn!

It’s not always fun to work as hard as we do at the barn - long days, on your feet, all sorts of weather. I think we all have a choice (yes, a CHOICE) to have either a bad day or a good day. Or you can take it one step further and say it’s a choice between having a good day or an EXCELLENT day.

So I asked my buddies at the barn for their “secrets” to making every day excellent-ish. Some days are harder than others.

Keep a positive mood in the barn. Moods are contagious, and while you can have a bad day, let everyone else’s good mood peer pressure you into having a good day.

The horses are a great source of entertainment, too!

Play games when you and your barn mates are cleaning tack, grooming horses, mucking stalls, doing chores. Some favorite games came up:

If your horse was a car, high schooler, human, celebrity, which would he be and why?

If your horse was human, what would his job be?

Share your embarrassing bloopers?

Break up the day with breaks. You need to do this. In many cases, it’s the law! Make time for a proper, sit down lunch. Again, you are likely entitled to this according to state and federal employment laws (for hourly employees). These breaks recharge your batteries and fill your belly.

Have a dance party. Listen to some music as you do your chores and don’t be afraid to let the rhythm get you, Gloria Estefan style.

Smooches.

Spend quality time with your horses. Grooming, playing with, just get close to them and snuggle. Find some time and just spend it, no to do list, no pressing task.

Have good snacks. You don’t need to have healthy stuff all the time, popsicles are fine too.

No barn freezer is complete without IceHorse packs and popsicles.

Make sure your boss is leading by example - a happy boss has happy workers. Find a barn that feels right for working, lessons, or boarding.

Stay open to learning. Everyone can teach you something, even if its what not to do. I find myself looking up tidbits of trivia about the bugs, critters and wildlife that I see at the barn. (Did you know that male box turtles can have red eyes?)

Start the Nickname Olympics. Every horse needs about a million nicknames.

Work as a team when you can. This makes dreaded chores easier and more fun!

These goofballs, despite having a mesh lingerie bag, prefer to do things old school and untangle miles of standing wraps the hard way. Teamwork.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Yes, stuff should be clean, healthy, well taken care of. But no one will perish in a huge tragic ball of flames if you accidentally don’t use a tiny toothbrush and a magnifying glass to clean the saddle this one time. Case in point, this article actually has eleven ideas. Oh well!